Hedera helix Jake - Common Ivy

Hedera helix 'Jake' is a variety of common ivy that is particularly compact and bright, making it highly ornamental throughout the year due to its small, beautifully yellow-tinted foliage. Its small trilobed heart-shaped leaves emerge a vibrant yellow, then turn a light lemon green at maturity. It adds a touch of whimsy to partially shaded areas, whether in the garden, on the terrace, or on the balcony, where it can decorate planters filled with green or flowering plants. Robust, hardy, and sun-loving, it can be used as both a small climbing plant and ground cover, wherever shade prevails over sunlight.

Ivies belong to the Araliaceae family and are related to ginseng and fatsias. Hedera helix 'Jake' is a cultivar derived from common ivy, which can be found everywhere in European forests, countryside, and gardens. The common ivy is native to the entire temperate Eurasian zone of the northern hemisphere.

'Jake' ivy is a slow-growing climbing or creeping plant with highly branched growth, capable of covering an area of 1.5m². Its small leaves are evergreen in winter, triangular, divided into 3 very rounded lobes, measuring 1.5 to 2cm (1in) long and 2 to 2.5cm (1in) wide, with the central lobe being twice as large as the two lateral lobes. They are borne on thick, greyish, star-shaped hairy branches. The stems cling to supports on their own with powerful climbing roots. This cultivar, which retains its juvenile character throughout its life, does not flower.

The hardy Hedera helix 'Jake' thrives everywhere except in hot or arid exposures. Its beautiful yellow foliage requires a partially shaded exposure. This plant is a good non-invasive wall cover, but be careful not to overuse it, as it can eventually damage old walls, especially when its branches are torn away from their support. Small varieties of common ivy are irreplaceable for planting on a terrace or balcony, trained on a small wire mesh structure or trailing in drapes along large containers, all the way to the ground. In the garden, they form excellent ground covers that eventually discourage adventive plants in partial shade or even in shade. Combine them with easy-to-grow woodland perennials such as periwinkles, barrenworts, ground ivy, dead nettles, macrorrhizum geraniums, or phaeum geraniums, for example.